Parallels tech preview for M1

[SUGAR RAY WONKA]

I have some degree of hope that they will eventually license ARM to end users. I dare say the market, certainly to begin with, will be small. But I fully expect it to evolve into a larger base.

Even initially, though the potential market may only generate revenue in the tens of millions, a small figure for Microsoft. I think it will prove to be enough to serve as a starting point.

I’ve activated my developer preview of Win10ARM with a Windows 10 Pro licence key - I usually have spares. Considering that it’s obviously capable and working for activation right now, it should be a simple process if they decide to sell it independently of hardware.

Can I be very cheeky and ask if you have spare Win10 Pro product keys that you could possibly consider throwing one my way to help resolve my activation woes?

Only I've installed the latest Win10 Arm64 Dev insider build via Parallels Technical preview on my M1 Mac mini, and this works fine unactivated.

I obviously would prefer to activate it, but unfortunately am prevented from doing so and the root cause appears to be the fact that it identifies itself as Win 10 Pro at a minimum - whereas I have two Win10 "core" (retail) "product keys", both derived from Win7 Home Premium retail DVD purchases.

My two "product keys" were subsequently used to upgrade free to Win10 Home on two x86 machines (one of which no longer physically exists). From what I now gather, at the point of upgrade to Win10 these purchased Win7 "product keys" were somehow magically transformed into Win10 "digital licences" linked to my MS account, which was (and remains) registered for insider builds.

Both of these "product keys/digital licences" (whatever) activated fine on their separate x86 devices. Being of retail origin I *should* still be entitled to transfer both/either of them to other devices (and in the process, deactivate/remove them from their original x86 devices). This includes - crucially - my Win10 Arm64 Dev insider build installed via Parallels Technical preview on my M1 Mac mini. But this now point blank refuses to recognise either of the product keys/digital licences, no matter what I do - even despite a rather tedious and ultimately fruitless extended live chat.

So if you could help with a spare Win10 Pro key I'd greatly appreciate that!

 

[CMMChris]

Just buy one of those cheap keys off eBay

 

[SUGAR RAY WONKA]

Just buy one of those cheap keys off eBay

DON’T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO

 

[dogslobber]

They crash, no error, just crash before they load.

If you use some way to install the x86 version they will run under emulation like described in #147

I don't know if this was resolved by it appears the issue is that the ARM32 apps fail and need to be reinstalled as ARM64. I tried the following procedure to get Windows Terminal installed successfully.

Parallels My Account

Your personal account at Parallels: manage your Parallels product licenses, get technical support, ask questions on the Parallels product forums.

forum.parallels.com

 

[hunkster]

Can someone tell me why some folks are looking to activate their Windows for ARM when it works perfectly well without needing to do so? Thanks!

 

[Gnattu]

and need to be reinstalled as ARM64

These apps do not have arm64 build. The Windows terminal does, but the store for example, does not.
The tutorial installs x86 version and is run via emulation.

 

[dogslobber]

These apps do not have arm64 build. The Windows terminal does, but the store for example, does not.
The tutorial installs x86 version and is run via emulation.

Correct.

 

[gank41]

Can someone tell me why some folks are looking to activate their Windows for ARM when it works perfectly well without needing to do so? Thanks!

If you want to customize a number of options, you can only do so on an activated copy of Windows.

 

[Modernape]

The next step would be to activate Windows so I can get rid of that horrible desktop.

No need to activate to do that. Just navigate to the image you want in Explorer, right-click, set as desktop.

 

[gank41]

No need to activate to do that. Just navigate to the image you want in Explorer, right-click, set as desktop.

And when you reboot, it'll be back to the Default again. Here's some more explanation:

"What are the disadvantages of unactivated Windows?"

 

[Maconplasma]

Can someone tell me why some folks are looking to activate their Windows for ARM when it works perfectly well without needing to do so? Thanks!

And this post alone is why I'm beginning to understand why Microsoft (like Adobe) is investing resources in the subscription model. People happily installing Windows and using it without ever paying for it is why these companies no longer want to have an honor system in place.

 

[Modernape]

And when you reboot, it'll be back to the Default again. Here's some more explanation:

"What are the disadvantages of unactivated Windows?"

Nope, it's persistent.

 

[gank41]

Nope, it's persistent.

Well, regardless of that, I’m just using the same Win10 digital key from my old VM on my old 2015 MBP.

 

[haralds]

Can someone tell me why some folks are looking to activate their Windows for ARM when it works perfectly well without needing to do so? Thanks!

I was not able to update to the Dev Channel without it.

 

[Modernape]

I was not able to update to the Dev Channel without it.

Odd, I was able to, no problem:

 

[hunkster]

I was not able to update to the Dev Channel without it.

Hmmm I switched from it to the Beta Channel for a while then back to the Dev Channel without needing to activate.

If you want to customize a number of options, you can only do so on an activated copy of Windows.

I see. I just ran Windows for ARM to run software and didn't customize anything, so didn't come across any limitations.

 

[bobcomer]

There's not much more that Apple could have done without sticking to Intel processors.

They could have made sure someone was working on x86 emulation in a VM long before they ever thought of releasing the M1! It really is needed, not only for those of us that need Windows (not WOA), but for those of us that still have Mac 32-bit apps to run, not to mention those of us that need x86 testing VM's.

What really bothers me is that nobody is even talking about emulation. As it is, virtualization is useless to me, and I wont mind emulation being slower, I just need it there when I need it there.

I use RDP when I'm on my local network and that works great, but when I'm not at home, internet latency is a killer, not to mention there's no way in heck that I would expose RDP to the internet without it being behind a good firewall VPN.

fwiw, I'm an IT manager and run Mac at home because it's different and it handles hi-res displays so much better than native Windows, but even on Windows PC's I'm always using VM's for developement, testing, whatever. I'll stop whining about it when I actually see an emulation product out there that at least somewhat works.

 

[dmccloud]

They could have made sure someone was working on x86 emulation in a VM long before they ever thought of releasing the M1! It really is needed, not only for those of us that need Windows (not WOA), but for those of us that still have Mac 32-bit apps to run, not to mention those of us that need x86 testing VM's.

What really bothers me is that nobody is even talking about emulation. As it is, virtualization is useless to me, and I wont mind emulation being slower, I just need it there when I need it there.

I use RDP when I'm on my local network and that works great, but when I'm not at home, internet latency is a killer, not to mention there's no way in heck that I would expose RDP to the internet without it being behind a good firewall VPN.

fwiw, I'm an IT manager and run Mac at home because it's different and it handles hi-res displays so much better than native Windows, but even on Windows PC's I'm always using VM's for developement, testing, whatever. I'll stop whining about it when I actually see an emulation product out there that at least somewhat works.

Apple first announced they were dropping 32-bit support back when High Sierra was the latest version of MacOS. That should have been the point at which developers and users alike started making sure that they were moving away from 32-bit applications. As an IT manager, you of all people should be aware of the need to upgrade systems and software as needed to comply with changes in the industry, whether from a technical, logistical, or even legal/compliance perspective. For me, virtualization is just as valid a path to use as emulation, and it does not come with the performance hits emulation brings to the table.

Given that Microsoft is increasing its own focus on WoA (with initial discussions regarding creating their own ARM-based processor currently ongoing), there's a lot of IT managers and developers who are going to have to bite the bullet on this matter, since even Microsoft sees a future in ARM-based development over x86.

 

[theluggage]

What really bothers me is that nobody is even talking about emulation.

I'm pretty sure QEMU (which does both emulation and virtualisation) for M1 is in the pipeline if not already running - and there's an iOS variant of it called UTM which some people have already had running on M1 already. A lot of the interest in Windows on ARM is because it has emulators for x86 Windows apps, and people have even had x86 games running reasonably on it.

...and they're still going to be making and selling Intel Macs for a while yet.

 

[Maconplasma]

They could have made sure someone was working on x86 emulation in a VM long before they ever thought of releasing the M1!

I know this may be hard to believe but has it occurred to you that maybe, just maybe Apple wants to work on their own OS since it's their own computers since the majority of their Mac customers use MacOS only, and emulation is not a priority as it shouldn't be? That's for a niche audience.

It really is needed, not only for those of us that need Windows (not WOA), but for those of us that still have Mac 32-bit apps to run,

Apple advertised they were moving to 64bit over 10 years ago. If developers choose to be lazy and never update to 64bit I absolutely don't expect Apple to wait for them. I'm not about to support a developer who doesn't support me as a customer. That gives the developer way too much power.

not to mention those of us that need x86 testing VM's.

Once again, not a priority. That's why Apple offered VM availability with Linux. It's easier for them to do so they can focus on other things without a bunch of licensing issues.

 

[bobcomer]

Given that Microsoft is increasing its own focus on WoA (with initial discussions regarding creating their own ARM-based processor currently ongoing), there's a lot of IT managers and developers who are going to have to bite the bullet on this matter, since even Microsoft sees a future in ARM-based development over x86.

Windows on Arm is nowhere close to enterprise ready, not to mention we *need* backwards compatibility. There's no biting the bullet ROI...

 

[bobcomer]

I'm pretty sure QEMU (which does both emulation and virtualisation) for M1 is in the pipeline if not already running - and there's an iOS variant of it called UTM which some people have already had running on M1 already. A lot of the interest in Windows on ARM is because it has emulators for x86 Windows apps, and people have even had x86 games running reasonably on it.

...and they're still going to be making and selling Intel Macs for a while yet.

Nothing for EMU yet that I've found, other than ARM VM's. UTM sounds interesting and I already had it on the list to try. My experience with it on an iPad wasn't that great, but it's been some time since I tried it.

As for WOA running on parallels, no, just no. I have it running, but it's not great. Maybe in year or two.

 

[bobcomer]

Once again, not a priority.

Not a priority for you.

 

[Maconplasma]

Not a priority for you.

And according Apple many more seeing as you don't see them doing what you want them to.

 

[bobcomer]

And according Apple many more seeing as you don't see them doing what you want them to.

You've got to remember that the Mac, (M1 or not), is a minority machine. If it did everything I needed already I wouldn't care, but it doesn't, and if Apple wants to sell to people like me, that have to work at it. Enterprises buy an awful lot of computers and as is, I can't buy a Mac for work unless it can run Windows in a VM well.